POLICE have asked travellers not to take the law into their own hands following the acquittal of two men accused of attempted murder after a Romany wedding.

York Crown Court heard during a week-long trial that a long-standing feud among gipsies sparked trouble at the wedding reception and ended with a man being shot at close range.

Robert James, 24, from Leeds, lost a kidney and spleen after being shot at the James Street travellers' site in York.

But the jury cleared Karl Gaskin, 29, who lived at the site, and John Robert Hooton, 56, of Thistle Hill Caravan Site, Knaresborough, of attempting to murder Mr James. They also found Anthony Gaskin, 30, of Diamond Street, York, not guilty of possessing a shotgun with intent to make others fear unlawful violence, and cleared Mr Hooton on a further charge of concealing weapons with intent to impede the arrest of others.

After the case, Detective Chief Inspector Steve Barlow, of York Police, who headed the investigation, said: "As a result of the background we have asked the travellers not to take justice into their own hands and stay calm."

The three men hugged each other in the dock and their families cried and shouted their joy at the acquittals.